Flint Is Just the Beginning. Really.

Being our semi-regular, slightly delayed, weekly survey of what's goin' down in the several states where, as we know, the real work of governmentin' gets done, and where they sing "Amazing Grace" all the way to the Swiss banks.

We begin (belatedly) in Arkansas, where the legislature apparently determined to make Razorback football games even more interesting than they already are, only to have second thoughts about it almost immediately. From Bleacher Report:

A new law signed by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson on Wednesday would have allowed concealed weapons to be carried into sporting events and a variety of other locations within the state. However, Andrew DeMillo of the Associated Press reported lawmakers voted Thursday to exempt stadiums and sporting events from the law shortly after it was signed by Hutchinson. According to DeMillo (h/t MySanAntonio.com), the law will take effect on Sept. 1, but it is likely that guns won't be allowed at the expanded list of locations until early 2018. University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University officials opposed the initial law and called for the decision of allowing concealed weapons on their campuses to remain with the schools.

It didn't take long for folks to notice how ridiculous this whole idea was, given the other restrictions in place at the stadium.

Also that day, Arkansas' conference, the SEC, announced a new clear bag policy, banning purses, binocular bags, backpacks, and any other non-clear containers that are bigger than tiny. It expands on a similar policy already enforced by the Razorbacks. Lots of sports teams do this, many of them saying the guidance comes from the Department of Homeland Security.

Because terrorists are much more likely to use binoculars as instruments of mass murder than firearms. Here, by the way, is how Governor Hutchinson answered the obvious absurdity.

At his news conference, Hutchinson said, 'A bad guy could get a gun into Razorback Stadium now. Under this current law, if you have got the enhanced training, then you would be able to go into that facility.'

In other words, don't worry, officer. If I want to kill people, I'm trained to use my weapon very well. I am not assuaged by this and will not be doing a lot of SEC games next fall. Heads up, zebras!

We will pause for a moment at this rest area in the Ozarks and consider the nationwide problem of lead poisoning in America's homes, particularly those in poorer areas. Reuters went out into the world and discovered that the problem is worse even than we all thought it was.

In all, Reuters found nearly 3,000 areas with recently recorded lead poisoning rates at least double those in Flint during the peak of that city's contamination crisis. And more than 1,100 of these communities had a rate of elevated blood tests at least four times higher. The poisoned places on this map stretch from Warren, Pennsylvania, a town on the Allegheny River where 36 percent of children tested had high lead levels, to a zip code on Goat Island, Texas, where a quarter of tests showed poisoning. In some pockets of Baltimore, Cleveland and Philadelphia, where lead poisoning has spanned generations, the rate of elevated tests over the last decade was 40 to 50 percent. Like Flint, many of these localities are plagued by legacy lead: crumbling paint, plumbing, or industrial waste left behind. Unlike Flint, many have received little attention or funding to combat poisoning.

This is an interesting story, especially in light of the fact that the government is currently turning itself inside out on the issue of healthcare, and in light of the fact that the president* has floated a budget that virtually demolishes the role of the federal government as regards public health. And it's not hitting poor people exclusively, either.

Residents take pride in preserving old homes, said St. Joseph's community development manager, Gerald McCush. But many aren't aware children can be poisoned during renovations. Others ignore explicit warnings. McCush, a certified lead inspector, says his office told one family that sanding paint off their walls was poisoning their son. "The dad said we were full of baloney," he said. "He wasn't going to stop working."

But poor people get it the worst. I'm familiar with the north side of Milwaukee. A long time ago, I used to live there. This story is crazy-making.

Brandon, who is easily excited, was at turns cheerful and mournful during an interview. He never finished high school and hasn't held a job. He has cognitive impairment, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and outbursts of anger. He was recently arrested after a dispute with a convenience store clerk over soda pop, and is now on probation. "Ever since I caught the lead, I've been messed up in the head. I can't control my anger or feelings," Brandon said. "I could have been better than I am." A mile away, in Milwaukee's census tract 88, Isaiah Martin, 18 months old, recently ingested old paint in a family home and on the porch outside, where he loved to watch a neighbor's dog. Isaiah's initial lead test, in June, showed a level four times higher than the CDC threshold.

I'm sure, if you looked, and not very hard, you could find an elected official who would say it's all Isaiah's fault because nobody told him not to eat paint chips and that the official never ate paint chips so why should he pay to take care of a toddler who did. Then you could go find a "moderate" who would blame Isaiah's mother.

Let us move along to Colorado, where something truly hilarious occurred—if by hilarious, you mean "stunning in its obvious hypocrisy." Steve Curtis used to be the state Republican chairman. Now, he's a wingnut talk-show host. But I repeat myself. Anyway, one of Curtis's longtime bugbears is the fictitious threat of fictitious voter fraud.

The former chairman of Colorado's Republican Party has been charged with voter fraud and forgery. Steve Curtis, 57, is accused of filling out and mailing in his ex-wife's ballot for the 2016 presidential election …"We're not going to talk about this," Curtis said when asked if he voted for his ex-wife in November. He ignored repeated questions about whether the charges undermine his credibility as a political radio host and former state party chairman … Weld County prosecutors discovered the forgery when Kelly Curtis called the Weld County Elections Office in October asking how she could vote because she had just moved to South Carolina but was still registered to vote in Colorado. That's when she said an election worker told her she had already voted by mail and the elections office already had her ballot. "I was just completely stunned. I thought there had to be some kind of mistake," Kelly Curtis said.

Forging your not-at-all mollified ex-wife's name is a special kind of stupid, which is to say it is precisely the kind of thing on which talk-radio hosts build their alleged "credibility," which Curtis apparently has sacrificed. Then, of course, you run and hide.

In court, Curtis' defense attorney asked the judge to impose a gag order to keep prosecutors from talking to the media about the case.The judge declined. After the hearing, Curtis' defense attorney asked Weld County sheriff's deputies to escort him to his vehicle in order to avoid any more questions from the FOX31 Problem Solvers.

These really are the fcking mole people. The former Ms. Curtis agrees.

"For somebody that speaks out for the Constitution and voters rights and our right as U.S. citizens, it definitely goes against what he talks about on his shows and how he lives his life as everyone has their right to vote," she said.

Let's stop briefly in Nebraska, shall we? The president* on Friday gave the green light to a continent-spanning death funnel that will be built with foreign steel at the behest of a foreign company, which will be granted the power to take the land of farmers and ranchers in order to transport the dirtiest fossil fuel in the world through some of the planet's most arable farmland to ship it off to the international export market. America First!

Also, if the president* has enjoyed dealing with recalcitrant congresscritters, he's going to love dealing with landowners whose property TransCanada is preparing to steal with a fountain pen.

Yeah, this'll be fun.

And we conclude, as is our wont, in the great state of Oklahoma, where Blog Official RV Wrangler Friedman of the Plains, via the Tulsa World, tells us that the Jehovah Lobby in the state legislature is a plucky, stubborn bunch of theocrats.

On Thursday, a committee of the Oklahoma House of Representatives recommended passage of a bill authorizing the installation of "statues, monuments, memorials, tablets or any other display" of "historically significant documents," including the Ten Commandments, in publicly owned buildings such as schools, courthouses, city halls and, presumably, the state Capitol. House Bill 2177, by Rep. John Bennett, R-Sallisaw, also directs the state attorney general's office to prepare a legal defense of the measure should it become law.

Yes, because we all know that the only costs of a major federal lawsuit involve the lawyer's salaries. Toner, copy paper, and expert witnesses droppeth like the rain from heaven. Why don't these clowns just withdraw a few million in cash from the state treasury and light it on fire on the steps of the state capitol building?

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